Asus rolls out N61JV notebook

Taiwanese computer manufacturer Asus has released the N61JV - a multimedia laptop that the company says is an attempt to balance performance and battery life. It also happens to be the company's first machine featuring Nvidia's Optimus graphics switching, which detects what you're doing and intelligently switches the graphics card between a GeForce GT326M and an Intel GMA 4500MHD to save battery.

Inside, there's an Intel Core i5-430M CPU, the aforementioned GeForce GT325M with 1GB of graphics memory, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard disk, and Blu-ray combo drive. It has a 16-inch TFT display running at a rather low 1366 x 768, and it runs 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. There's also b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, 1.3-megapixel webcam, a card reader, Altec Lansing speakers, a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, eSATA connector and Expresscard slot.

It weighs 2.8kg with the battery in, and will set you back £950 from most places. If you're a games enthusiast who also likes to indulge in more scholarly (and less graphically intensive) pursuits from time to time, then it could be an option worth considering. It's available now.